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Midnight in Chernobyl: The Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Audio CD – Audiobook, February 12, 2019
Purchase options and add-ons
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
- Publication dateFebruary 12, 2019
- Dimensions5.8 x 1.1 x 5.8 inches
- ISBN-101508278539
- ISBN-13978-1508278535
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Editorial Reviews
Review
A definitive book. Adam Higginbotham has written a wonderful and chilling account...with thriller-like flair.
-- "Luke Harding, #1 New York Times bestselling author"About the Author
Jacques Roy is a audio narrator and actor, known for The Lower Angels and Room and Board.
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (February 12, 2019)
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1508278539
- ISBN-13 : 978-1508278535
- Item Weight : 8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.8 x 1.1 x 5.8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #197 in Nuclear Engineering (Books)
- #851 in Disaster Relief (Books)
- #3,834 in Russian History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Adam Higginbotham is a British writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, GQ and Smithsonian. He is the author of MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL and CHALLENGER. He lives in New York.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and riveting. They appreciate the well-researched and detailed account of the events. The writing quality is described as good and the author does a good job conveying the bravery of individuals. Overall, readers describe the book as an informative and thorough account of the Chernobyl disaster.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book engaging and worth reading. They appreciate the depth and context it provides, making it a companion to the series. The Kindle version is generally well-done, although there are occasional typos.
"...The Kindle version is generally well done, although there is the occasional typo and there are no links between the main text and the footnotes...." Read more
"...described as “a blinding work of narrative fact” that will “amaze, enthrall, and cause every reader to shed tears” for the legacy left behind by a..." Read more
"...maps and when the residents were loaded onto buses never to return, a perfect archaeological site was left intact...." Read more
"...Excellent read, hard to put down...." Read more
Customers find the book's story detailed and engaging. They appreciate the human stories and technical explanations. The events are woven intricately, providing a comprehensive overview of the event. Readers appreciate the investigative journalism and the level of detail provided about the accident, including its causes and effects.
"...Chernobyl, I'm happy to say this is a fairly easy read, and gripping for the most part...." Read more
"...Higginbotham has written what has been described as “a blinding work of narrative fact” that will “amaze, enthrall, and cause every reader to shed..." Read more
"Superb and very readable history of the most horrific explosion known to be man made...." Read more
"Has a compelling story that sticks to the facts, I am learning more about it and that’s nice, this is the second book I have read only on this..." Read more
Customers find the book well-researched and informative. They say it provides a detailed history of the disaster and the Soviet Union. The writing is impeccable, with well-founded comments and conclusions. Readers appreciate the author's explanation of the history of nuclear power in the Soviet Union. Overall, the book provides depth and context to many things that the series only touched upon.
"...The author has done a pretty good job explaining the history of nuclear power in the Soviet Union, how nuclear power plants operate, the many flaws..." Read more
"...Higginbottham’s research is immaculate, his comments and conclusions are well founded, and his writing is impeccable...." Read more
"Has a compelling story that sticks to the facts, I am learning more about it and that’s nice, this is the second book I have read only on this..." Read more
"...reactor building (or what was left of it) with a massive, international engineering feat...." Read more
Customers find the book well-written and researched. They appreciate the author's skill in guiding readers through terminology and scientific explanations. The book is described as an easy read that reads like a novel with descriptive phrases, facts, and color commentary.
"...his comments and conclusions are well founded, and his writing is impeccable...." Read more
"The author greatly explains the Communist landscape (similar to our Democrats) that birthed this enormous man-made and far reaching catastrophe...." Read more
"Reads like a novel" Read more
"...to get through, the book is impeccably researched and just so well-written that you can't stop reading." Read more
Customers find the book's history fascinating and well-researched. They say it's a good companion to the HBO series on Chernobyl, covering everything the TV series did and more. The author does an excellent job of writing about the Chernobyl disaster and dug deep for accuracy. The book provides a detailed and well-written account of the disaster, including the foundations. It takes readers on a wild ride through a nuclear disaster and the desperate attempts of the Soviet system.
"...And I really appreciate the build up to the actual explosion as it laid the ground work of failings that lead to this disaster...." Read more
"“Midnight is Chernobyl” is a very well written and researched book on a nuclear disaster that could have been catastrophic not only for the USSR,..." Read more
"This is a cautionary tale. Not about the dangers and challenges of nuclear power...." Read more
"...The book provides a detailed and well researched history of the disaster, including the foundations of the USSR's nuclear ambitions, the influence..." Read more
Customers find the book's character development insightful and personal. They appreciate the personal stories of individuals and their families that humanize the disaster. The timeline, personalities involved, and technical details are explained well. Readers mention the book captures the humanity, genius, hope, and hubris of the people involved in the Chernobyl accident.
"...The author has skillfully avoided fustian sentimentality, the scourge of investigative reporting, but still presents crackling prose that was a..." Read more
"I was surprised by the depth of research and the wide range of interviews that comprised the reporting of this thrilling piece of history...." Read more
"...detail under control, the author provides detailed maps, a cast of characters, a table of contents, author's notes, a glossary, and an index...." Read more
"...There were full index’s of terms, people, locations and sources at the end of the book (really 70% of it is book, 30% of it is “other”)...." Read more
Customers find the book explains nuclear energy and Russian politics in an engaging way. They say it's a must-read for anyone interested in nuclear power, with a compelling argument against it as managed by fallible humans. The book provides helpful explanations of nuclear/radioactivity science, engineering, and public. It also discusses the risks of nuclear power and is important reading in an age of climate change.
"...The takeaway for me, besides a great course in nuclear physics and alpha, beta, gamma rays, (please do not give me a quiz), is the 1) need for..." Read more
"...One reactor could power a million homes. The largest in the world...." Read more
"...The author notes at the end that the use of nuclear power is advancing, wind and solar will never provide power sufficient to the worlds growing..." Read more
"...Told in a compelling narrative style, it’s not necessary to understand nuclear power in order to enjoy this book...." Read more
Customers find the book's pacing chilling, unnerving, and shocking. They also mention it's instructive and instructive. The details of everything that went wrong are scary, including the defective design of the reactor.
"...He keeps things moving at a brisk pace and considering that I'm a slower reader than I used to be, I'm amazed I burned through it in only five days...." Read more
"The scary details of everything that went wrong, including the defective design of the reactor, the interference of political forces that resulted..." Read more
"...work of narrative fact” that will “amaze, enthrall, and cause every reader to shed tears” for the legacy left behind by a nuclear disaster in “..." Read more
"...It will enrage you, shock you, scare the hell out of you, and it actually brought me to my knees in prayer. Let me just say this one thing...." Read more
Reviews with images
Incredibly well written, detailed, and fascinating
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2019I'll admit I haven't thought much about the subject since my second-grade classmates talked about it in hushed tones back in the early 90s, but the hype surrounding the new HBO/Sky miniseries has sent me down a Chernobyl rabbit hole over the last two weeks. It's been a rewarding, fascinating, and occasionally disturbing experience, and I'm glad I read this early on.
Being the first full-length book I've ever read on Chernobyl, I'm happy to say this is a fairly easy read, and gripping for the most part. Adam Higginbotham has managed to cram in a huge number of viewpoints into less than 400 pages, including the perspectives of the plant workers, scientists, doctors, first responders, liquidators, ordinary civilians in Pripyat and the surrounding areas, and the Soviet elite making a godawful mess of everything from above. He's dug deep into obscure and recently declassified materials, revealing the true extent of the bad decision making that went on, and the institutional rot inherent in the Soviet system. He keeps things moving at a brisk pace and considering that I'm a slower reader than I used to be, I'm amazed I burned through it in only five days. I swear my heart was racing when Unit Four exploded, and I audibly groaned on a couple of occasions when a bad situation somehow managed to get worse. It's a case study in why dictatorships rarely last more than a few decades, or in the case of Russia, end up getting replaced with a different form of dictatorship. Gorbachev is one of the few figures who comes across as being even mildly sympathetic, if painfully naive, leaving the reader wondering exactly HOW he planned on "reforming" what essentially amounted to an 8.6 million square mile dumpster fire by that point.
I'm surprised that some have criticized the level of technical detail in this book. The author has done a pretty good job explaining the history of nuclear power in the Soviet Union, how nuclear power plants operate, the many flaws inherent in the RBMK design, and what happened inside Unit Four the night of the fateful safety test. On a more frustrating level, he's also done an excellent job explaining how the decrepit, hidebound, ideologically rigid, and corrupt Soviet government turned a tragic industrial accident into a traumatic nightmare.
This book also includes a large amount of supporting material not usually found in most popular histories. These include a list of the major players, maps of Pripyat and the surrounding area, diagrams of the plant and Unit Four, a lengthy bibliography, a glossary of terms, and a massive (130-page) section of footnotes. The Kindle version is generally well done, although there is the occasional typo and there are no links between the main text and the footnotes. On the negative side, the writing is sometimes rather clumsy, and while the Soviet bureaucracy deserves all the criticism it gets here, the amount of space the author devotes to criticizing an inhuman system has the ironic effect of sometimes distancing the reader from a tragedy that affected a lot of scared, confused, and yes, heroic, human beings.
If you can stomach a few disturbing accounts of what radiation does to the human body, and some mildly technical descriptions of how nuclear power plants operate, this is a book that deserves to be read. It's not a flawless read, nor is it an anti-nuclear or anti-communist screed, but it's a darn good read nonetheless.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2019Journalist Adam Higginbotham has written what has been described as “a blinding work of narrative fact” that will “amaze, enthrall, and cause every reader to shed tears” for the legacy left behind by a nuclear disaster in “Midnight in Chernobyl.” That’s a flowery review but totally appropriate.
The author brilliantly details the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident that started out to be a safety check intended to simulate a blackout power-failure. Through a combination of reactor design flaws and operators not complying with a test checklist, uncontrolled nuclear reactions caused several steam explosions and an open-air graphite fire. Airborne plumes of radioactive fission products were distributed into parts of the USSR and other European countries for many days.
Two deaths occurred at the facility during the accident, 28 firefighters and other employees died of acute radiation sickness shortly afterward, and fourteen cancer deaths of 134 hospitalized survivors followed in the next ten years. It is estimated that, over the long term, several thousand additional cancer deaths will be attributed to the incident’s byproducts. Billions of dollars will be expended to mitigate the damage that has occurred, both to humans and the environment.
Secrecy and falsehoods by the USSR are evident throughout the account. It is also apparent that accidents at nuclear plants occur frequently, most of which are relatively innocuous considering the potential. Because nations will never want to admit being the cause of any worldwide disaster, secrecy will probably continue to accompany nuclear mishaps by any government, a scary thought.
Higginbottham’s research is immaculate, his comments and conclusions are well founded, and his writing is impeccable. The author has skillfully avoided fustian sentimentality, the scourge of investigative reporting, but still presents crackling prose that was a magnetic attraction for this reader.
The official Politburo verdict blames the disaster on gross breaches of regulations by operators whose “irresponsibility, negligence, and indiscipline led to grave consequences.” The report lists the ministers who were dismissed and/or expelled from the Communist Party and states that court proceedings will follow. However, the author goes on to reveal that there’s much more to the incident.
Higginbotham has uncovered the reality of the nightmare of nuclear disaster and makes it obvious that more tragedies might be expected. The potential is so real that every proposal for dangerous enterprises, regardless of purpose or stated invulnerability, must be carefully vetted and reviewed by knowledgeable and unbiased sources. A thoughtful study of “Midnight in Chernobyl” is certainly a prudent exercise in gaining such awareness.
Schuyler T Wallace
Author of TIN LIZARD TALES
Top reviews from other countries
- Righteous ReviewerReviewed in India on November 25, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars An Accurate and Insightful Read
Although a little content heavy and very factual.
It’s exactly what you’d need and expect from the subject matter at hand.
It delves into the Chernobyl disaster quite thoroughly and without bias.
Really loved how the scenes were set and characters were introduced.
- Daniel James FogartyReviewed in Brazil on August 23, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars A story for the ages
Midnight in Chernobyl is a masterpiece. An urgent tale of a lost empire, the USSR, it takes us into the world that was Chernobyl. The author's prose is perfect as he brings us with him to the Ukraine, back to Moscow, and through time.
- Martin EglinReviewed in Germany on July 27, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Boook
Although a work of history the book brings the tragedy to life in a thriller like fashion. Extremely tense and gripping. Cant recommend this book enough. Read it!
-
Alejandro RuizReviewed in Mexico on May 20, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente
Muy buena historia y el material en excelente estado
- BriReviewed in Italy on October 23, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars It is the best
I have read several books on the Chernobyl nuclear accident but for me this is by far the best. It deals very much with the lives of the individuals involved in the accident but that is probably what makes it so good.
It is very well researched and also explains well how the Soviet Union collapsed soon afterwards.
I can highly recommend it.